Smithfield’s Planning Commission voted unanimously with two absent on Oct. 12 to approve a final plat application for 46 suburban residential cluster-zoned properties in Phase Six, section three of the Cypress Creek golf community.

Phase Six, section three had previously gone before Smithfield’s Town Council on Oct. 5 for approval of its subdivision agreement. The final plat formalizes the subdivision of the parcel into 46 individual cluster-zoned lots.

Cluster zoning allows homes to be built closer together to allow for more green space elsewhere in the development, Pack had explained at the Oct. 5 Town Council meeting. Pack serves on both bodies as the Town Council’s liaison to the Planning Commission.

“It’s really kind of a new trend in development,” Pack said. “People want smaller yards.”

The Planning Commission had approved a preliminary plat application for Phase Six in 2019 under the condition that the applicant acquire a special use permit from the Town Council prior to breaking ground on the proposed gravel trailer and recreational vehicle parking lot. Phase Six is divided into three sections: the first containing 55 lots, the second containing 51 and the third containing 46, for a total of 152 proposed houses.

Plans for Cypress Creek began in 1986 when a group of developers proposed building a gated luxury community of 400-plus homes complete with its own golf course on 640 acres of land bordering the Route 10 bypass, according to The Smithfield Times archives. Of these, just under 300 have been built.